Ideas for Sauvigon Blanc tasting?

Hello

I am having 4 couples over for Sauvigon Blanc tasting and will be serving Thai food (I believe it will be a good match).

I am asking each couple to bring a bottle, was thinking to be specific and ask them to bring a Bordeaux Sauvigon Blanc (not a California one or New Zealand , etc). Should I be more specific that Bordeaux?

I saw this on wikipedia:

In France, Sauvignon blanc is grown in the maritime climate of Bordeaux (especially in Entre-Deux-Mers, Graves and Pessac-Léognan as a dry wine, and in Sauternes as a sweet wine) as well as the continental climate of the Loire Valley (as Pouilly Fumé, Sancerre, and Sauvignon de Touraine).


Looking for ideas?

Thanks!

Hi James,

As many on this board could tell you, Sauvignon blanc coming out of Bordeaux is usually blended with Semillon, so if you want to taste straight up SB, probably better to look elsewhere. It sounds like you want to do a targeted tasting–French only. If that’s so, I would suggest 4 from Sancerre, which probably makes the most consistent wines of the towns you mentioned (and others in the Loire, such as Quincy). All that being so, sure, then, why not tell them, or at least request specifically what they should bring?
Good luck with the tasting!

Gotta have a ringer. Geyser Peak blind would be fun.

If this is intended to be a fun learning experience for people who are interested in wine but might not have a lot of experience, then how about French, California, New Zealand and Northern Italy/Slovenia examples? Then people can decide what they like and don’t like. There will be (should be…could be?) wild variations.

There are nice SBs from coastal Chile

I like the idea of narrowing it to a particular region/ Country. As others have said Bordeaux may not be good for the variability in semillon that may be added.

Perhaps Loire instead? Or New Zealand? Or Italy?

Sure.
But for a real ringer try something like Wiengut Gross.

I think Colin has the right idea.
Apologies if Im wrong but if this is an exploratory type event I thinking important thing to let people assess NZ style vs Loire style (I’m oversimplifying here). So a few Gisborne, Sancerre / Pouilly Fume.
For the Loire to try to find something from top producer like Dagenau or some of the top Bourgeois wines to show what SB can do.
And then there is Bordeaux.
There is such a range of styles possible here. And likely scope for a lot of discussion, most people will like some but not others and every version will have its fans and detractors. Group think is unlikely.
This is all a bit general, without knowing more a bit hard to come up with specific list.

Oh yes Austrian SB - good idea.

Have not had Weingut Gross but Glatzer is excellent!

New Zealand SBs are in their own orbit, I live here and prefer Sancerre. I find the Kiwi wines really really hard to match with food and a bit of a pantomime example of the grape,
In my opinion of course

Thank you everyone for the replies. Great ideas!

By the way I am new to the forum, just joined today.

Should I have a price range per bottle.

I like the idea of 4 bottles from Sancerre and a ringer. I also like the idea of French, California, New Zealand and Northern Italy/Slovenia examples? Perhaps if it was a bigger event with more bottles the French, California, New Zealand and Northern Italy/Slovenia examples would work better so might go with the 4 from Sancerre. But am still open to suggestions.

We all live a few miles from K&L so our options are good.

Thanks again for all the suggestions, the event is about 6 weeks away so there is lots of time.

Lastly, should I ask people to chill to bottles before bringing them? Or serve them at room temp? Or ask for the bottles to be dropped off earlier and I can control and maintain the temperature (sorry if I am getting to far into the details here)?

I am surprised no one suggested a tasting based on the use or absence of oak in the vinification of various Sauvignon Blanc wines, whatever the region of origin.

You may have a few flights based on country/region with a Fumé-style treatment, one with used oak, one from stainless steel, etc.

James,

Sounds like a great idea for a tasting. It sounds like you and the folks might be early in their journey of discovering/contemplating wine (versus just drinking it)… in which case I think you would get more out of exploring a comparison of regional styles than sticking within one region (like Sancerre). The key here would be to make sure your choices are very typical of the region. Assuming one bottle per couple I would go with something like (since you mentioned K&L these are all available):
Sancerre - Cotat Cailottes
Bordeaux - Carbonnieux Blanc (75% SB)
New Zealand - Greywacke
California - Ladera
Italy - Schiopetto

I wouldn’t serve room temperature. Maybe 30-45 minutes outside of the fridge. Assuming folks are going to be making the trip to buy anyway, why not just do all the buying and then split the cost among the 5 couples?

Clayton

Include a Terlano Winkl. The most passionfruit I’ve ever smelled in wine. No one would ever guess Italy. Von Winning SB 500 or I are also great. Both are super rich and German SB has awesome acid but the oak influence in these 2 give a full bodied mouthfeel that people will guess as GC white burg.

I would try to find wines that are relatively typical of the sauvignon blanc from the respective region. I would choose a Marlborough, a Sancerre, and Bdx blanc (Smith Haut Lafitte is like 90+% SB), a Cali, and an Italian or Chilean.

Cloudy Bay or Dog Point from NZ
Mellot/ Boulay/ Riffault from Sancerre
SHL Blanc (or Malartic, which is much cheaper) from Bdx
Bevan / Bedrock/ Crocker & Starr from Cali
Casa Marin/Laberinto/Matetic from Chile if you can find them

How about substituting all of the Savvy Blancs for Chardonnay?

I’m surprised that no one has suggested just drinking Riesling with Thai food, but if you want to explore the world-wide variations, there are creditable Sauvingnon Blancs from South Africa (Southern Right) and the Pacific Northwest (Patricia Green) you can throw into the mix.

My personal favorites are all from the Loire or NE Italy.

I love these sassy posts.

OP: “Hey guys, new here, want to pick your brain for a sav blanc tasting”

WB Vets: “Sav blanc is dumb, chard better”
WB Vets: “You’re having thai? Change the wine tasting that is subject of OP, not food”

My suggestion would be to not do a SB tasting. I was in a group for a dozen years and our least attended and worst were SB. I happen to like the variety too, but we all felt a bunch of them was too much.

If you are looking for a number of drastically different Sancerres you could consider having the following:

A typical steel-fermented one from for example Boulay or F. Cotat
Alphonse Mellot Generation XIX (fairly big with some oak)
Sebastien Riffault Akméniné (the freaky end of the appellation)

I would choose Sauvignon Blancs from all different regions. Be sure to taste them all before food is served. The taste of the food and even the smell of it will affect your perception of the wines. I’d also suggest a very low spice level or, if that doesn’t sound good, maybe a different type of food like some sort of simple, citrusy seafood.